Step in dryer device

ABSTRACT

A step-in dryer device including a housing, at least one blower unit, an actuator mechanism, a pair of air inlets, a pair of air inlet covers, a vent, a vent cover and a top cover. The at least one blower is encased in the housing for generating heated air. The actuator mechanism for activating and deactivating the blower unit. The pair of air inlets are integrated into the housing and positioned on opposite sides of the blower unit. The pair of air inlet covers are each attached to a respective air inlet. The vent is integrated into the housing and positioned in a perpendicular manner relative to the top cover. The vent receives the heated air generated from the at least one blower unit. The vent cover is attached to a front surface of the vent and includes a plurality of narrow openings for outputting the generated heated air and to prevent an object from getting into the blower unit. The top cover is integrated in the housing and is positioned in between the pair of air inlets. The top cover is configured to receive to an object or a user&#39;s feet.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of priority of U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 63/360,946 filed on Nov. 15, 2021, the disclosureof which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments described herein generally relate to dryer devices, and moreparticularly to a step-in dryer device.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Drying your feet, ankles and lower legs can be difficult for someindividuals. In some instances, individuals are not able to bend over tomanually dry their feet with a towel or cloth. In this instance, theindividual either has to wait for their feet to air dry or proceed withwet feet. Moreover, there are times when an individual may want to drytheir shoes, for example, rain boots, after coming in from the rain.This is another example where the individual's choices are to let theshoes air dry or try to dry the shoes in a dryer. Many shoes are made ofmaterials which are not suitable for use in a dryer. Hence, an efficientway of drying an individual's feet/lower leg region and shoes isdesirable.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The various advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure willbecome apparent to one skilled in the art by reading the followingspecification and appended claims, and by referencing the followingdrawing(s), in which:

FIG. 1 shows an exemplary view of a step-in dryer device according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Exemplary embodiments disclosed herein describe a step-in dryer device.The device includes a housing, at least one blower unit, an actuatormechanism, a pair of air inlets, a pair of air inlet covers, a vent, avent cover and a top cover. The at least one blower is encased in thehousing for generating heated air. The actuator mechanism for activatingand deactivating the blower unit. The pair of air inlets are integratedinto the housing and positioned on opposite sides of the blower unit.The pair of air inlet covers are each attached to a respective airinlet. The vent is integrated into the housing and positioned in aperpendicular manner relative to the top cover. The vent receives theheated air generated from the at least one blower unit. The vent coveris attached to a front surface of the vent and includes a plurality ofnarrow openings for outputting the generated heated air and to preventan object from getting into the blower unit. The top cover is integratedin the housing and is positioned in between the pair of air inlets. Thetop cover is configured to receive an object or a user's feet.

In some exemplary embodiments, the device includes a pad which overlaysthe top cover.

In some exemplary embodiments, the pad is removable.

In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one blower unit includes atleast one motor driven fan.

In some exemplary embodiments, the at least one blower unit includes aheating element.

In some exemplary embodiments, each air inlet cover includes a pluralityof openings to inlet airflow through the air inlets the at least oneblower unit.

In some exemplary embodiments, the actuator mechanism includes a sensor.

In some exemplary embodiments, the sensor is positioned underneath thetop cover to detect the presence of a user's feet or an object.

In some exemplary embodiments, the actuator mechanism includes a switch.

In some exemplary embodiments, the device includes an air flow controlmechanism.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present disclosure relates to a step-in dryer device. A user maystep onto the device to dry the user's feet, ankles, and lower legs.Alternatively, a user may step on the device wearing shoes or the usermay place an object (e.g., shoes) on the device to dry the shoes or theobject. The device may automatically blast out heated air upon thedetection of a user's feet/shoes or other object atop the device. Thedevice allows a user to dry their feet, ankles and lower legs withouthaving to bend over. Moreover, the device allows a user to dry wetshoes, such as, rain boots, either while wearing the boots or withoutwearing the boots. The device includes a control mechanism to controlthe airflow rate of the air blasted from the device.

As illustrated in FIG. 1 , the device 10 includes a housing 12, at leastone blower unit 14, an actuator mechanism 18, a pair of air inlets 23, apair of air inlets covers 27, a vent 30, a vent cover 32, a top cover36, and a power receptacle/cord and/or a power source. The at least oneblower unit, actuator mechanism, pair of air inlets, pair of air inletcovers, vent, vent cover and top cover are all integrated with thehousing to form the step-in dryer device. The housing may be configuredin any suitable shape, and in a preferred embodiment, the housing isconfigured in a rectangular shape. The housing may be made from anysuitable rigid and durable material, and in a preferred embodiment, thehousing unit is made from plastic.

The at least one blower unit 14 generates heated air and is encased inthe housing 12. The blower unit may include at least one heating elementand at least one motor driven fan to generate the heated air by forcedconvection. As air enters the device 10 through the pair of air inlets23 the at least one motor driven fan generates airflow over the at leastone heating element which thereby causes heated air to blast from theblower unit through the vent 30. The heating element may be constructedfrom a coiled wired. In some aspects, the at least one blower unit mayinclude a plurality of motor driven fans and/or a plurality of heatingelement.

The actuator mechanism 18 activates and deactivates the blower unit 14.The actuator mechanism may include a switch 20 which is connected to apower source and the at least one blower unit 14. When the switch isturned on a closed circuit is formed between the switch, power sourceand the blower unit and current supplied from the power source isallowed to flow to the blower unit which activates the motion andoperation of the blower unit. When the switch 20 is turned off, thecircuit is no longer closed (i.e., an open circuit is formed) andcurrent is no longer able to flow to the blower unit, therebydeactivating the blower unit.

In some aspects, the switch 20 is connected to a user-activated off/ontoggle switch which is integrated on an external surface of the device.In this instance, the switch 20 is closed (i.e., turned on) when thetoggle switch is set to on and the switch is open (i.e., turned off)when the toggle switch is set to off. In another aspect, the actuatormechanism includes a sensor 19 (e.g., pressure sensor or weight sensor)which is positioned under the top cover 36 of the device. The sensordetects when an object or a user's feet (i.e., when a user is standingon the top cover) is resting on the top cover 36. When the sensordetects the presence of the object or the user's feet, the sensors senda signal to the switch causing the switch to turn on. When the object isno longer present on the top cover, the signal is no longer sent to theswitch thereby causing the switch to turn off.

The pair of air inlets 23 are integrated into the housing 12 and areeach positioned on an opposite side of the at least one blower unit 14in a perpendicular manner relative to the blower unit. Each air inlethas a cavity 26 through which air flows. Each air inlet has an air inletcover 27 attached to it at a distal end 24. The proximate end 25 of theair inlet 23 is attached to the blower unit 14. Each air inlet cover 27includes a plurality of narrow openings 28 to inlet airflow through theair inlets to the blower unit. The openings are narrow so as to preventan object from entering the device that could damage the blower unit orany other components of the device.

The vent 30 is integrated into the housing at a position perpendicularto the top cover 36. The vent receives the heated air generated from theat least one blower unit and the heated air flows through a vent cover32 to the region surrounding the top cover. The vent cover 32 isattached to the front surface of the vent 30. The vent cover includes aplurality of narrow openings 33 to outlet the heated air from the blowerunit. The openings are narrow so as to prevent an object from enteringthe device that could damage the blower unit or any other components ofthe device.

In some aspects, the device 10 may include a plurality of blower units,vents, and vent covers which are positioned along the side of the devicein a parallel manner relative to the pair of air inlets respectively soas to blast out heated air from along the sides of the device.

The top cover 36 is integrated in the housing in between the pair of airinlets 23. The top cover is configured to receive a resting object fordrying. Alternatively, a user may stand on the top cover to dry theuser's feet, ankles, lower legs or shoes. The top cover includes aremovable pad 38 which overlays the top surface of the top cover. Thepad may be constructed from a water absorbent material, such as, forexample, terry cloth. The pad may also be constructed from a machinewashable material.

In some aspects, the device 10 may include an air flow control mechanism(e.g., switch, sensor) to control the rate (e.g., low or high) at whichthe air flows from the vent 30.

Moreover, it should be understood that when an element is referred to asbeing “connected” or “coupled” to another element, it can be directlyconnected or coupled to the other element or intervening elements may bepresent. In contrast, when an element is referred to as being “directlyconnected” or “directly coupled” to another element, there are nointervening elements present. Other words used to describe therelationship between elements should be interpreted in a like fashion(e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directlyadjacent,” etc.)

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particularembodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of exampleembodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a,” “an” and “the” areintended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearlyindicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms“comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including,” when usedherein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps,operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presenceor addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations,elements, components and/or groups thereof.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientificterms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by oneof ordinary skill in the art to which example embodiments belong. Itwill be further understood that terms, e.g., those defined in commonlyused dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that isconsistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art.However, should the present disclosure give a specific meaning to a termdeviating from a meaning commonly understood by one of ordinary skill,this meaning is to be taken into account in the specific context thisdefinition is given herein.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate from the foregoing descriptionthat the broad techniques of the embodiments of the present inventionmay be implemented in a variety of forms. Therefore, while theembodiments of this invention have been described in connection withparticular examples thereof, the true scope of the embodiments of theinvention should not be so limited since other modifications will becomeapparent to the skilled practitioner upon a study of the drawings,specification, and following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A step-in dryer device comprising: a housing; atleast one blower unit encased in the housing for generating heated air;an actuator mechanism for activating and deactivating the blower unit; apair of air inlets integrated into the housing and positioned onopposite sides of the blower unit; a pair of air inlet covers forattachment to a respective air inlet. a vent integrated into the housingand positioned in a perpendicular manner relative to the top cover, thevent receives the heated air generated from the at least one blowerunit; a vent cover attached to a front surface of the vent, the ventcover including a plurality of narrow openings for outputting thegenerated heated air and to prevent an object from getting into theblower unit; and a top cover integrated in the housing and positioned inbetween the pair of air inlets, the top cover is configured to receivean object or a user's feet.
 2. The device of claim 1, further comprisinga pad which overlays the top cover.
 3. The device of claim 2, whereinthe pad is removable.
 4. The device of claim 1, wherein the at least oneblower unit includes at least one motor driven fan.
 5. The device ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one blower unit includes a heatingelement.
 6. The device of claim 1, wherein each air inlet coversincludes a plurality of openings to inlet airflow through the air inletsto the blower unit.
 7. The device of claim 1, wherein the actuatormechanism includes a sensor.
 8. The device of claim 7, wherein thesensor is positioned underneath the top cover to detect the presence ofa user's feet or an object.
 9. The device of claim 1, wherein theactuator mechanism includes a switch.
 10. The device of claim 1, furthercomprising an air flow control mechanism.